Air Belgium in 2018

[Passenger]

I defend fair trade (not to be confused with Oxfam's Fairtrade). Thus full respect for the passengers, including for the passengers who do not inform themselves to an Aviation24.be level. Unfortunately, Air Belgium seems to mislead international travellers by suggesting that they will land at (or very close to) Brussels.

Same applies for my remark about their "EU 261/2004 tax". There is no such tax. That 5 Euro is just an internal calculation and thus has to be included in the fare.

[sn26567]

When I fly to an airport I don't know, I go to the website of that airport, section "Transport", and I look how to go to the city with the same name as the airport: distance, ways of transportation, costs. And I am never deceived.

And, by the way, there is also an airport at Verona (other than Brescia).

I think that Air Belgium is not misleading its customers. Furthermore, CRL is not at one and a half hour by bus. One hour at the most. At many airports, you have to travel one hour before you reach the city.

Maybe it's time to close that discussion on airport names and return to the real subject of this thread: Air Belgium. And the upcoming flights to China!

[Airbus330lover]

Same about OAK and SFO (see citybird) Discussion closed for me

[Acid-drop]

Google flight cant find air belgium in my searchs, why ?

Second comment : their prices are just normal, 25 euro per flying hour is very normal. So why fly CRL then...
440 euro for MUC(or DUS)-LAS is a nice price
BRU-LHR-HKG for 479 euro is not even hard to find
AB is not disruptive enough

[quixoticguide]

With Flibco bus you can go very easy from CRL to Ghent/Bruges faster then with the SNCB/NMBS (and cheaper).

[sn26567]

AB is not disruptive enough

It would go bankrupt immediately if it were really disruptive. Their fares are great! Let's keep them alive: they are the only Belgian-owned airline left (except for ASL which still needs to affirm its belgitude).

[Shengenzone]

When I fly to an airport I don't know, I go to the website of that airport, section "Transport", and I look how to go to the city with the same name as the airport: distance, ways of transportation, costs. And I am never deceived.

And, by the way, there is also an airport at Verona (other than Brescia).

I think that Air Belgium is not misleading its customers. Furthermore, CRL is not at one and a half hour by bus. One hour at the most. At many airports, you have to travel one hour before you reach the city.

Maybe it's time to close that discussion on airport names and return to the real subject of this thread: Air Belgium. And the upcoming flights to China!

Utter bullshit, they do mislead. And they don't use the full name in their ads.

[Shonix]

Maybe because they believe international travellers will be less nitpicking than the locals...

Sure. Here are some comments from non-nitpicking international travellers on the above BBC article:

Flew Ryanair to Brussels (Charleroi), only to find it was over an hour and a half's bus journey from the city! Misleading? Definitely!
Paul, UK

My girlfriend and I used Ryanair to fly to Verona for a weekend last December. We flew out of Stansted for Brescia-Verona airport, only to find out that the airport was 70km or so away from Verona. The taxi driver charged us 100 Euros for the fare, my girlfriend was in tears (as we were on a budget and this was a considerable chunk out of it). Faced with the same fare on our return, we had to get a train from Verona back to Brescia, instead of paying another 100 euros. When we brought this up at the Ryanair desk, they told us we should have checked before we left, and no one else had complained. Disgusted is the cleanest description I have of the whole experience.
Marcus Doyle, UK

I think companies should be forced to be honest. The main airport at Frankfurt has an excellent public transportation system yet Frankfurt Hahn is at least an extra hour from the centre - this would make a difference to my choice of airline. I would like to see companies compelled to give information on airport locations at the time of booking and in their adverts. Then people can make an informed judgement on whether to travel with a particular carrier.
Richard, Ingelheim, Germany

I think the airline has an obligation to be more specific regarding the exact location of the airport - it is sometimes very frustrating to find out that the airport you have chosen to fly to is nowhere near your intended destination and trying to get hold of these details is sometimes impossible or at least, very complicated. Airlines, budget or otherwise, should be more specific on their destinations and allow customers to make an informed choice.
Niall Clarke, United Kingdom

You get what you pay for. You want to fly to Brussels, take a proper airline, want to go via Charleroi, half of Belgium away, take a cheapo one.
Phillip Souta, UK

Are you a moderator on this forum?
If so stop the negativity and the demonstration on how CRL is bad...that's first unfair and biased information....Why do you always bring bad exemple from other people, why no compliments from passengers and there are some by the way.
I flew crl- fin last week and it was just perfect 5 minutes check-in and a walk to the gate....
Stop spitting on other people face.

I can't stand those reports.

"Flew Ryanair to Brussels (Charleroi), only to find it was over an hour and a half's bus journey from the city!"

In an era where Google Maps exists, the least he could have done is to check where the airport is exactly located and by which means he could have reached his final destination...

[TLspotting]

Air Belgium knows the potential of Charleroi, Air Corsica, Ryanair, WIZZ, Pegasus and Belavia have showed it...
B2 say in their booking system BRU instead of CRL...
Ryanair say Brussels Charleroi,even if a few passengers don't know where it is,it is not a problem for the airline and their growing...

[Sai]

Second comment : their prices are just normal, 25 euro per flying hour is very normal. So why fly CRL then...
440 euro for MUC(or DUS)-LAS is a nice price
BRU-LHR-HKG for 479 euro is not even hard to find

Indeed, one must be honest: basic ticket price is quiet high imo, given they profile themselves as a low cost alternative (secondary airport without offering connections, difficult with public transport, tightest cabin with least legroom on long-haul of any Belgian airline in Economy, etc...)

The starting price of a basic ticket is a normal fare for any Middle-East carrier to Asia from BRU, although not a direct flight, but surely more comfortable.

The price difference for Premium Class with AB…starting at Y-ticket price + €500 is gigantic if you compare the same product with their Belgian counterparts (SN, TUI).

I expected (and of course hoped) a more modest price for the reasons stated above. I would have considered a mid-week trip to HKG, and bare the squeezed flight, even from CRL and I think many Belgians…
But for the current prices I know fare better deals that are more convenient…pitty

[sean1982]

Passenger is just a bit ticked off that “the project that would never materialise” has happened and ruffles up his blue and red feathers. (Or yellow and black feathers for that matter)

[luchtzak]

From IP 195.154.226.148 I am facing a 308 permanent redirect error page when browsing www.airbelgium.com
.

[mad_fab]

Utter bullshit, they do mislead. And they don't use the full name in their ads.

So, NH is also "bulshitting" when they fly you to NRT?

[Bracebrace]

(except for ASL which still needs to affirm its belgitude).

Off topic: what kind of confirmation do you need? ASL-B is hiring like crazy on all levels (in the offices & cockpit), all receive Belgian contract, pilots get a type rating payed by the company. The company (ASL-B) is growing every day.

[Homo Aeroportus]

From IP 195.154.226.148 I am facing a 308 permanent redirect error page when browsing www.airbelgium.com
.
15878DD2-A233-4003-84B0-CD2EEA6AFD61.jpeg

Same error code from here in Belgium at 12:13Z

H.A.

[mad_fab]

Same error code from here in Belgium at 12:13Z

Works fine for me Chrome on Linux, Belgian ISP.
Just in case this is a cookie issue, did you try in "private" mode?

[Amavro]

Too much non sens criticism here by Bralo, passenger, shengenzone and so on. If the name was not "Air Belgium" but "Air Flanders", i'm quite sure those same persons would be quiet af. Let's be objective please. Ok, the choice of CRL might be controversial, but under no circomstances they are misleading by saying "Brussels south" as long as other companies do the very same, and CRL is not so far from Brussels City. This is marketing. There are plenty of airports doing the same thing. And of course they are advertising Brussels, even if they fly from CRL. When you go to London, even if you land at Gatwick, Stansted, Luton or Heathrow, you go to London, and every airoport is advertising for that.
You must be stupid to advertise for Charleroi, isn'it ?
For the taxes on the website, i've checked it with my sister who is a lawyer, and there is nothing illegal.

Stop complaining about everything, for godness sake there is a BELGIAN airline, everyone should be supporting it.

[Passenger]

Passenger is just a bit ticked off that “the project that would never materialise” has happened and ruffles up his blue and red feathers. (Or yellow and black feathers for that matter)

Clear proof of "ryanitis": you have worked too long for Ryanair so you are unable to accept the basic principle of consumer legislation: one may not mislead "the average consumer" (the Belgian law indeed says "gemiddelde consument / consommateur moyen"). And that's what I wrote: "average consumers" have a far less aviation knowledge then Aviation24.be members. "Brussels South Airport" is misleading. "Brussels South Charleroi Airport" is correct. See down below.

Regarding the Belgian state, investing money into Air Belgium: actually I was expecting some support from you there, given your campaign here towards the illegal state aid (through reduction of social security costs) that was given to Brussels Airlines, Jetarifly/TUI fly and Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium...

Anyway, on topic: I never opposed them or I never wrote they would never start (contrary to Powdair, where I was the only one here who wrote it was a scam). But yes, it looks strange to me what they're doing now: too little time between bookings-open and first flight - unlogic flight schedule (2 aircraft but no outgoing flights on days 5-6) - no use of the financial incentive that Brussels Airport offers - use of an airport that is difficult to reach compared to BRU.

- - -

Legislation text: Als misleidend wordt beschouwd een handelspraktijk die gepaard gaat met onjuiste informatie en derhalve op onwaarheden berust of, zelfs als de informatie feitelijk correct is, de gemiddelde consument op enigerlei wijze, inclusief door de algemene presentatie, bedriegt of kan bedriegen ten aanzien van een of meer van de volgende elementen, en de gemiddelde consument er zowel in het ene als in het andere geval toe brengt of kan brengen een besluit over een transactie te nemen dat hij anders niet had genomen.

Une pratique commerciale est réputée trompeuse si elle contient des informations fausses ou si, d’une manière quelconque, y compris par sa présentation générale, elle induit ou est susceptible d’induire en erreur le consommateur, en ce qui concerne un ou plusieurs éléments ( existence ou nature du produit ou du service, ses caractéristiques principales, le prix…), même si les informations présentées sont factuellement correctes, et qu’elle l’amène ou est susceptible de l’amener à prendre une décision commerciale qu’il n’aurait pas prise autrement.

[Bralo20]

Too much non sens criticism here by Bralo, passenger, shengenzone and so on. If the name was not "Air Belgium" but "Air Flanders", i'm quite sure those same persons would be quiet af.


Stop complaining about everything, for godness sake there is a BELGIAN airline, everyone should be supporting it.

Actually you're right. If it was called Air Flanders and it had the Flemish flag printed backwards (or upside down) I wouldn't give a peep because I don't give a rat's ass about the Flemish flag since I'm a proud Belgian in the first place who happens to live in Flanders. And as a proud Belgian I'm indeed very vocal about Air Belgium's livery because they screwed it up big time and a national flag is something you don't screw with. I repeat myself for the last time: if you have the audacity to call your airline "Air Belgium" and present it as a Belgian airline then the least you could do is respect the flag and correct the livery.

And that's about all I'm going to say about it

[Homo Aeroportus]

Same error code from here in Belgium at 12:13Z

Works fine for me Chrome on Linux, Belgian ISP.
Just in case this is a cookie issue, did you try in "private" mode?

Thanks, it works fine on Chrome indeed.

Still confirm the error 308 on IE though.

H.A.